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Saturday, September 26, 2009

I noticed I'm getting a little too political lately. I really don't know much about politics or who is right and who is wrong. But, this blog is about how it seems we're falling down the rabbit hole. I'm just not that informed or educated about politics. So, everything you read here is naturally only my limited opinion about what I see as either bad or good in the world and the Church.

I just had a blast over on WDTPRS Z chat with Father Zuhlsdorf. It reminded me of the old Fisheaters chat we used to have. Father played music and we had a lot of fun with that too.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Saturday, August 22, 2009

We're getting closer to the new English translation of the Mass! Father Z characterizes the current translation as "God, you are so big. Help us to be big like you". And I couldn't agree more. There's been a lot of debate about the new (and more accurate) translation. Apparently some Bishops think their flock are a bunch of dimwits and won't understand such big words such as "ineffable" or "consubstanial". The Bishops of the United States have put up a website about the new translation. They offers up some examples of the changes, including:

current text:Priest: The Lord be with you. People: And also with you.

New text:Priest: The Lord be with you. People: And with your spirit.

Significant changes to the Gloria:current text:Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly King,almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.

new text:Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will. We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory,

And what looks like a ton of other changes. Many are exactly as they appear in the English side of my 1962 Mass Missal. There are also many changes for the priest as well. I first heard about the new translation right after being Baptized, in 2002. Now I wonder how many parishes around these parts will actually follow this new and improved translation? How many will just ignore it, they way they ignore decrees of the Pope? Too many, unfortunately. And, I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt the Bishop will do anything about it.

Friday, August 21, 2009

I feel like we're living in a cuckoo clock in this country.Everyone is talking about "health-care reform". Obama and The Hopey Changey Gang, want a "public option", that is government run health care. And we all know just how darn efficient the government runs things: public school, DMV, Ma Bell (remember when the gov't ran the telephone company? Awful), the Post Office... Ah wait, yes. The Post Office. The Post Office is such a mass of inefficiency and incompetence that it's own workers finally lose it and "go postal". So, anyway, some people are worried that private insurance will go the way of the dodo and everyone will be stuck with ObamaCare. This is what Dear Leader says:

“I mean, if you think about, if you think about it, UPS (United Parcel Service) and FedEx are doing just fine, right? No, they are,” said Obama. “It's the Post Office that's always having problems.”

Yes, that's right Mr President. The GOVERNMENT RUN POST OFFICE IS ALWAYS HAVING PROBLEMS. Isn't that basically what the eeeeevil, raaaaacist, un-American Mob have been saying all along? Shouldn't this be a huge red-flag?

Naturally, the Post Office had it's fweeings hurt.

“On behalf of 35,000 members of our association, I am writing to express our collective disappointment that you chose to use the Postal Service as a scapegoat and an example of inefficiency,” Keating wrote.

“Your negative comments on the Postal Service--without knowledge of the facts--was not only a disservice to members of our organization, but to all the postal employees,” he added.

“Employees of the Postal Service are largely represented by unions [Well there's your problem] and management associations, all of whom strongly supported your candidacy last year,” the letter said. “For our support we do not expect any special consideration. However, we would like to be treated fairly and not have our current situation misrepresented, especially by the commander-in-chief.”

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Yesterday I posted a link to a post at Michelle Malkin's blog, which linked to a Politico statement by Lanny Davis. Mr Davis sent MM an e-mail to clear up any misunderstandings about his position and opinions.

From: Davis, Lanny J.Sent: Wed Aug 05 22:21:11 2009

To readers of Michelle Malkin’s blog who responded to my post on Politico earlier in the morning:

I received a number of thoughtful emails and wanted to express my appreciation to those who communicated their sincere concerns. There was a misimpression that I was in favor of suppression or discouragement of dissent concerning Democratic positions on national health care issues at congressional town hall meetings. This was not my intent. I do not wish in any way investigate, photo, or suppress the opinions of people who show up to these meetings regarding concerns about Democratic health care proposals. Indeed, I welcome that because we need more debate on this important issue.

My post specifically criticized only those who shout down and prevent others from speaking. Indeed, I specifically expressed my respect in that post for those who are genuinely concerned about the health care proposals.

Finally, some sincere people who communicated with me asked whether I had or would condemn those on the left who disrupted meetings or shouted down speakers on the conservative side of the spectrum. The answer is: Yes I would and I have. Publicly.

I believe that thoughtful and civil people on the left and the right share a desire for debate and have respect for other people’s opinions. This is fundamental to a civil society and our great democracy. In my post, I only wished to protest strongly those who believe it is acceptable to attend a meeting for the purpose of disrupting and preventing honest and vigorous debate.

I take the same position if it is people on the left side of the spectrum who use such tactics as those on the right side.

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

That's right Comrades! If you see or hear any criticism of Dear Leader's reforms, let him know! He can't keep track of all of the dissenters and needs our help!

In the meantime, Lanny Davis wants those who show up at town hall meetings and express their mistrust of Obama-Care and/or Dear Leader Himself, photographed and investigated. You know, just to make sure you aren't a shill for the insurance companies. Which they must be because they're just dressed too nice.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Lately I've been avoiding my once staple "trad" forums. For one thing, my favorite, which is hosted by people who I consider dear friends, seems to have been over-run with young, 20-something year old males who think they know everything; from marriage to women's bodily functions and post excessive amounts, insinuating themselves into every. single. thread. Then there are the cynical shitheads who mock anyone and everyone who pleads for charity. These are older, married men that are obviously very angry about something or other. There's never discussion anymore, only argument of stupid, petty things like ladies wearing trousers and bitching and moaning how bad the Novus Ordo (which is it, but can we shut up about it already? isn't that why we're trads?) is and going out of their way to find something to be offended about. Anything they are not familiar with or isn't to their liking is derided as "liberal, modernist, Marxist, feministic crap". They act as if never before have there been bad Catholics, irreverence at Mass, sin and indifference to religion as today. Is it worse today? Maybe, but it certainly isn't new. I'm reading a book right now, written in 1867 (or thereabouts) which laments how cold and indifferent and disrespectul people are towards the Blessed Sacrament. How hardly anyone respects the Mass and how many graces are lost for Masses unheard. 1867 not 1967. I have more thoughts on this but want to stew them in my mind a bit more.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

I just learned that Billy Mays died this morning. He was 50. Bow-Wow and I just started getting into the show "Pitchmen" on Discovery Channel and Billy was our favorite. I had always found him slightly entertaining before, but "Pitchmen" showed just what a swell guy he was. My heart goes out to his family; I cannot imagine the grief they're going through. Requiescat in pace Billy. You will be greatly missed.

Chris Matthews is such a whore for Obama, he'd gladly wipe the President's butt with his tongue.

Later Thomas posits Dear Leader as Dear Teacher:

THOMAS: ...He's the teacher. He is going to say, ‘now, children, stop fighting and quarreling with each other.’ And he has a kind of a moral authority that he – he can – he can do that-

"Moral authority". Uh-huh. Yeah. Sure. But the President is "comfortable" with having a virulent anti-Catholic on his "faith based advisory council" (whatever that is). Disagreeing with the Pope is one thing being a Protestant and all, but calling the Knight's of Columbus "foot soliders" in the "army of opression"? Catholics would be better off having Jack Chick on this council. Seriously. Father Z asks an excellent question: "Imagine a person saying those sorts of things about Jews or Muslims. Then try to imagine a President, of either party, appointing such a person to any position in the administration." Yeah, I couldn't either. But, then again, Obama is "sorta" God anyway, so it's all good, right?

Friday, June 05, 2009

Three years ago, the City of San Francisco (named after St Francis of Assisi, by the way) passed a resolution that officially condemned the teachings of the Catholic Faith, calling them "hateful", "callous" and "insulting" and urged Catholics to disobey the teachings of the church. Catholics, particularly Bill Donahue of the Catholic League, represented by the Thomas Moore Law Center took exception to this resolution naturally and sued saying it violated the First Amendment. The 9th Circuit Court heard the case and sided with San Francisco. The Catholic League is appealing. Can you imagine if any government officially condemned the religious teachings of say, oh, Islam? Yeah, me neither. In essence: shut up Catholics. You are officially second-class citizens.

Over in Connecticut, legislators thought it would be a good idea to take control of the Catholic Church's finances and structuring (Bill 1098). Catholics, including the Bishops, thought this was not such a good idea, and let their reps in the state gov't know it by protesting on the steps of the State Capitol. Well, the authorities over in the "Constitution State" (ha!) thought the Catholics got a little too uppity and are now saying the Diocese of Bridgeport violated lobbying laws, a.k.a shut up. So +Bishop William Lori is suing claiming Establishment Clause violations. You go Bish!

In New York, New York Asslemblywoman Margaret Markey made a not so veiled threat against the Bishop of Brooklyn by saying he should "walk very cautiously" lest the Church loses it's tax-exempt status. In other words: shut up. The Bishop had previously spoke against Markey's bill that targets Catholic schools and gives a free pass to public schools. +Bishop DiMarzio supports a bill introduced by Asslemblyman Vito Lopez which treats public and Catholic schools equally when dealing with accusations of abuse. (source: Catholic League).

So here we have 3 different governments, all interfering or directly attacking the Catholic Church which can be summed up in two words: shut up. When the government is telling you to shut up, that's when we need to speak out the most.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

A man who made a career of tearing babies limb from limb and puncturing their skulls to suck out their brains, was shot dead by a mentally unbalanced man. Some people are horrified; others are jumping for joy. I'm smack in the middle. Murder is never an answer, whether it's a 15 week unborn baby or an abortionist. I don't even like the death penalty. On the other hand, Tiller is responsible for the deaths of at least 60,000 children. 60,000! And unfortunately, Tiller never had a chance to publicly repent. Is he in Hell? I don't know. I pray he had a chance before death took him to repent of his sins (just like I hope everyone who dies suddenly has a chance, the way I hope I have a chance to repent of my sins before death). I bet Scott Roeder will have the chance to repent he denied Tiller.My friend has a quote on her Myspace page. It says "Why do we kill people who kill people to show killing is wrong?" Killing Tiller didn't really change anything. Babies will still die due to a "choice". The "choice" people will lionize this man and make him a martyr for their cause. The horror that is abortion will be pushed aside yet again.Condemning this murder is pointless really. The mere fact that I mentioned George Tiller's heinous profession will null and void any condemnation I give. The pro-aborts are frothing at the mouth over the "violence" of the Right (when in fact it's just one lone looney-tune responsible). The irony is they ignore the violence done to babies at the hands of men like Tiller.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I love the show, I really do. Even with its cheesy re-enactments and "cheap" scares. And you know that if TAPS were there, they'd debunk the hell out of that shit. One thing that does bug me is the lighting. Why is everything so dark? They have every light in the house on and it's still all doom and gloom. And who gets up in the middle of the night hearing the proverbial "bump" and not turn on a light? I'd break my neck trying to run around here in the dark chasing after vague noises. Then there's smudging. That's where you take some sage and burn it and walk around your house. I guess ghosts don't like the smell or something. But, apparently, the ghosts never got the message because every time a homeowner/ghost victim tries the "smudging" it never works. Neither does calling in a "psychic" to "guide them to the other side". Just ask the Johnsons. That pathetic little wiccan ceremony did jack squat. They had to call in TAPS later. Not that TAPS got rid of whatever it was, they don't do things like that. They just proved that whatever was haunting them was still hanging around.

So yeah it's cheesy and me and my eldest love to riff it MST3K style, but it can still give me the heebie-jeebies and have me reaching for the Holy Water, Rosaryand Scapular.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Here is a classic example of stupid laws with the intent to "save the environment" that end up doing more harm than good.

Apparently in Spokane, WA one cannot purchase certain dishwasher detergents because it's "bad" for the environment. So all that is available on the shelves are "green" products which aren't very effective. So what are people doing? Driving to Idaho to buy the detergent that actually works; no doubt in their SUV's. So not only is Spokane not keeping phosphates out of the water supply, they're adding carbon emissions from the cars that make the trip to the next state over. Some are running their dishwasher on the "pots and pans" cycle, which uses more water than the normal cycle.This is just like the stupid "low-flow" toilets now mandated by the Government. You use less gallons per flush, yet have to flush more often just to get the shit to go down, therefore using more water than if you just flushed once with a "regular" toilet. More proof that government interference creates more problems than it solves.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Kansas Man Allegedly Had 2 Wives in Same Apartment Complex

A Kansas man faces a bigamy charge after allegedly being married to two women who lived in the same apartment complex.

Charles L. Clemens Jr., 61, of Overland Park is charged with bigamy and other felonies, according to authorities.

Officials say police were called to the complex in November when the second wife went to first wife's apartment to confront Clemens and found out he was married to someone else.

Clemens was arrested this week and made his first court appearance Wednesday.

Erickson says Clemens married his first wife 22 years ago. Court records say the second marriage occurred in January 2006. Both women are in their 50s.

Clemons is also charged with using his father's Social Security card to lease one of the apartments and with stealing jewelry and money from his second wife

First, I'd like to point out the idiocy of trying to date two women at the same time who live in the same apartment complex, let alone being married to two women, in the same apartment complex. Secondly, this raises a question for me: if the marriage laws are either changed or abolished altogether, (thus allowing for bigamy/polygamy) what recourse would these women have?

Friday, March 20, 2009

My emphasis and comments in green

A teacher at a Marrero high school has been arrested after authorities say he was caught masturbating in a classroom by students and another teacher Wednesday. He was suspended without pay.

Joey Lehrman, 22, of New Orleans, was booked with obscenity and taken to the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna. He was expected to be released from custody late Thursday on $5,000 bond.

Lehrman is an English teacher at L.W. Higgins High School on Lapalco Boulevard, said Beth Branley, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson Parish public school district. He was hired through the Teach for America program and had worked at the school since August. She said no other complaints have been lodged against him.

According to an arrest report, three students and a substitute teacher saw Lehrman masturbating in his classroom Wednesday about 8 a.m.

When Lehrman was questioned by deputies, he admitted exposing himself, but said he was applying lotion because of a medical condition, [lamest excuse evar] according to a news release from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. He then admitted that he masturbated, according to the arrest report. [ew] Lehrman has no prior criminal record, according to authorities.

Lehrman's arrest shocked parents who arrived to pick up their children Thursday, with many of them saying they were unaware that anything had happened.

Parent Roy Ashworth, who was waiting to pick up his son, said he might consider home schooling his teenager next year. Ashworth said that during the first week of school, his son told him that authorities found a gun at the school, and students were forced to enter through metal detectors. Not only are Lehrman's actions disturbing, Ashworth said, but the school's failure to notify parents is troubling.

"If I would have known about it, my son wouldn't be coming to school," Ashworth said. [Which is probably the very reason they didn't notify parents]

Parent Anna Nimenibo agreed that the school did a poor job of notifying parents about the arrest. She said she learned about it after her daughter sent her a text message Thursday. The teenager wanted to come home early because she heard rumors that Lehrman had purposely exposed himself to a female student. Nimenibo said she discounted her daughter's account at first, but now she thinks it might be true.

"She was scared to go to school, but I told her to go to school," Nimenibo said. "What kind of teacher would do something like that in front of the students? ... He's sick if he would do that in school.

Branley said the school system does not have a written policy to notify parents because incidents that require notification happen infrequently. She also said the system's collective bargaining agreement along with state and federal regulations prevent it from disclosing certain personnel matters.

Branley could not confirm or deny Ashworth's claims about a gun being found on the Higgins campus early this year.